modine



March 8, 1932. A. B. MODINE 1,848,537 v AIR CONDITIONING DEVICE Filed May 28, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet l March 8, 1932. A. B. MODINE AIR CONDITIONING DEVICE Filed May 28, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 8, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT @FFICE ARTHUR IB. MODINE, OF RACINE, WISCONSIN', ASSIGNOR TO 'MODINE MANUFACTUR- ING COMPANY, OF RACINE, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN AIR CONDITIONING DEVICE v Application led Iay 28, 1926. Serial No. 112,878.

the production of devices of the kind described Which are convenient, compact, dur

able and efficient.

A particular object of the invention is to provide household heating apparatus of simplified construction, which apparatus is adapted to heat and moisten easily regulated.

Many other objects and advantages of the construction herein shown and described the air and is will be obvious to those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein given.

To this end my invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement and combination of parts herein shown and described, and more particularly pointed out in the claims. y

In the drawings, wherein like reference characters indicate like` or corresponding arts:

tioning device embodyin the invention;

Fig. 2 is a section ta en on line 2-2 of Fig. 1

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3--3 of F Fig. 4 is a section taken on line l1--4. of i0. 1 v

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of air conditioning apparatus embodying another form of the invention;. l

Fig. 6 is a section taken on vline'6--6 of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 7 is a section taken on line 7--7 of Fig. 2, the lower end of the housing 10 is open Fig. 1 is avfront elevation of an air condi-Y to the atmosphere and the front wall 14 of the housing is provided with an opening 16 in which a grill 17 or the equivalent is mounted. Disposed in the lower end of the hous- 111g is a radiator core 18 which is preferably of the type more fully shown and described in my copending application Serial No.

112,376 filed May 28, 1926. Briefly, the ra-V .dlator core 18 preferably comprises spaced tanks 19 and 2O which communicate with each other through a plurality of thin walled tubes 21 provided with fins 22, the tanks 19 and being connected by reinforcing side bars 24. In thisfinstance the radiator core 18 is shown operatively connected t'o pipes 26 and 27 which form part of a hot water system but it is obvious tothose skilled in the art that the radiator core 18 may be readily connected to a steam heating system. A damper 29 is fixed to a shaft 30 journaled in a bracket 31 mounted upon the radiator'core, means comprising a knob 32 being provided for angularly displacing the damper 29 around .the longitudinal axis of the shaft to control the ow of air through the housing 10.

Mounted in the upper end of the housing 10 is a tank 34 or the equivalent which is preferably provided with an inclined arcuate bottom wall 35 to permit the tank to hold i How upwardly through the housing and be discharged therethrough from the lower portion of the grille 17 and other currents of air may flow upwardly through the housing around the tank 34 and then be discharged from the housing through the upper portion of the grille 17. The tank 34 is preferably secured to the end walls 37 of the housing 10 by rivets 38 and tubular spacing members 39, the tank being preferably provided with bracket members 40 to insure that it will be spaced from the front and rear walls of the housing. i f

The operation ofthe above described device is substantially as follows: Assuming that the radiator core 18 is operatively connected to a hot water system and that the 29 may be angularly .displaced into a position wherein it permits air to flow upwardly through the core and then through the housing to the opening i6 Where it passes from the housing. The air, of course, will be heated as it passes through the radiator core 18 and a portion of this heated air will pass through the lower portion of the grille 17 without coming in contact with the water contained in the tank 84.` Other portions of the heated air will pass upwardly around the end rear walls of the tank 34 and then over the top thereof to be discharged through the upper portion of the grille 17. The air passing over the tank 34 will evaporatel water from the tank and its relative humidity will be raised so that comfortable conditions will y obtain in the room. The temperature of the room may be regulated by adjusting the damper 29, it being obvious that when the damper is in its fully open position there will be an elicient exchange of heat between the hot water and the air passing through the'radiator core and when the damper is in an intermediate position a-reduced quantity of air will flow through the housing, thus decreasing the eiiciency of the radiator core.,

lf the damper 29 is moved into its closed position, substantially no air will iow through the housing and the air in the room will not be heated to any great extent. The tank 3l may 'be relled at any time, it being only necessary to remove the closure member 12 so that water may be poured into the tank. llt will be noted that the closure member 12 is preferably termed with a dead-air space or chamber 12a so that'the upper surface of' the cap will remain relatively cool/ at all times.

lleierring now to Figs. 5 to 7, inclusive, wherein l have shown apparatus embodying another form oi the invention, the reference character l5 designates a wall built toprovide a recess or chamber d6 which is closed by a plate d?, the plate t7 being provided with upper and lower openings i8 and a9, respectively, which are closed by grilles 46a and alla, respectively llisposed in the lower end of the chamber i6 and immediately above the opening 49 is a radiator' core 5l which is substantially identical in construction with the aforementioned radiator core 18, the radiator core 51 being operatively connected to pipes 53 and 5l which jform part oi a hot water heating system. rlhe radiator core 51 has a damper 55 pivotally mounted thereon, the damper 55 being substantially identical with the aforementioned damper 29 and being manually adjustable by means comprising a knob 56. When the damper 55 is in its iully open lposition or is in an intermediate position air may enter the chamber d6 by way oi the aperture and be discharged from the chamber by way oiE the aperture 48, the air being induced to tlow in this direc- .tion by the radiator core 51. Disposed in the upper endof the chamber 46 is a tank 59 mounted upon brackets 60 which are, in turn, mounted upon the Vplate 47. In this instance,l the tank 59 is rigidly secured to the brackets 60 by rivets 62 and the brackets are rigidly secured to the plate 47 by rivets l63. It will be noted that air may How upwardly in the chamber andpass through the aperture 48 without passing over the tank 59 and that other currents of air may flow around the tank and pass from the chamber through the upper portion of the aperture 48, It is, of course, understood that the 'tank 59 is 'adapted to hold a quantity of Water which will be evaporated by the air passing thereover and the relative humidity of the air will be raised. Means is provided whereby .the tank 59 may be lilled with water, this means preferably comprising a trough or spout slidably journaled in an aperture 66 formed in the plate 47, the aperture 66 being so positioned that the inner end of the spout is positioned directly over the tank 59. The outerend of the spout or trough `65 is preferably closed by a disc 66 or the equivalent which also serves as a closure 'member for the aperture 66 when the spout or trough is disposed in a position wherein it is shown in full lines in Eig. 6.. When the tank59 is to be filled the spout or trough 65 is preferably moved into the position wherein it is shown in dotted lines in Fig. 6 and water is poured into the outer end thereof. v

Having thus described my invention, it is obvious that various immaterial modiiications may he made in the same without departing from the spirit of my invention;

hence l do not wish to be understood as limit- 1 ing myself to the exact form, construction, ar-

rangement and combination of parts herein shown and described or uses mentioned.

What l claimas new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. ln air conditioning apparatus, a radiator core, an enclosure ior'said core, a tank lixedly positioned in said enclosure for holding a supply of water, and a member projectingfinto said enclosure having an end adapted to he moved relatively to the casing to expose an end of said member to discharge water into said tank when water is poured into said end of said member.

2. ln air conditioning apparatus, a radiator core, an enclosure for said core, a tank positioned in said enclosure for holding a supply of water, and a. member slidably mounted in an aperture located above said tank, said member projecting into said enclosure and adapted to discharge water into said tankwhen water is poured into the end of said member.

3. The combination with a wall having a recess therein, oi a radiator core inonnted in said recess, a plate for closing said recess, said plate being provided with upper and lower openings whereby a current of air may flow through said recess, and a tank for holding water carried entirely by said plate, said tank being disposed in said recess and extending' across one of the openings in said plate.

4. In air conditioningl apparatus, an enclosure, a radiator core disposed adjacent the bottom thereof, a damper mounted on said radiator core and above the same, means extending outsid of said enclosure for manipulating said damper, and a tank' mounted in said enclosure above .said radiator core, said enclosure having openings adjacent the top and bottoniI thereof for the passage of air, and said tank having a wall which eX- tends from adjacent one edge of the top opening to the opposite edge of said opening.

5. In`air conditioning apparatus, an enclosure having a iront plate, a radiator core disposed in said enclosure, a damper mounted on said radiator core and above the same, means extendmg ou'tslde of sald enclosure for manlpulatmg sald damper, and a tank, the

bottom wall of said tank extending from said wall to adjacent' the rear edge of said radiator, said tank being carried entirely by said front plate and disposed over said radiator.

core, said front plate having an opening below said radiator core and an opening in the u per art thereof. Y

6. n a evice of the class described, a cabinet having a wall with an opening in the upper part thereof, a heating unit having s aced apertures forming the bottom wall o said cabinet, humidifying means mounted within said cabinet serving also to deflect a' curL rent of air outwardly through said opening, and means mounted in said cabinet for regulating the volume of air passing therethrough, said humidifying means being' so arranged that a portion of the air passing upwardly from said unit will move over the top of said humidifying means so as to carry moisture out of said cabinet.

-7. In air conditioning apparatus, a radiator core, an enclosure for said core, a tank mounted in said enclosure above the core, said enclosure having openings at the top and bottom thereof for the passage of air, said tank being extended across the top opening and having a wall projecting from the rear wall of the casing in an upward direction toward the upper edge of the opening.

8. In air conditioning apparatus, a radiator housing having substantially vertical walls, said housing being provided with an o ening in its bottom and with an opening a jacent the upper end of one of its vertical walls,` a radiator core disposed at the lower end of the housing, a tank for holding water disposed in the upper end of the housing, said tank having a wall, an edge of which is arranged adjacent the upper edge ofthe opening and to the rear wall of the casing and located adjacent the lower edge of said opening.

9. In air conditioning apparatus, a radiator housing having an opening in the opposite ends thereof and having a water tank located in the upper end of said housing, the tank having an arcuate wall which is of a continuous curve from the front to the rear of the tank.

10. In air conditioning apparatus, a radiator core, an enclosure for said radiator core having upper and lower openings whereby a current of air may flow through said core, and a tank for holding water, said tank having a wall projecting toward said core and providing means for directing air toward the opening,positioned intermediate the upper and lower ends of said upper opening so that a portion of said air will flow over said tank, and another portion will flow beneath the tank directly to said upper opening.

1l. In air conditioning apparatus, a radiator core, an enclosure for said radiator core having upper and lower openings, a tank for holdin water positioned intermediate the upper an lower ends of said upper opening, said tank having a wall thereof extending lfrom adjacent one edge of said opening toward the opposite edge of the opening and' rear wall of the enclosure.

12. In air conditioning apparatus, a radiator housing having substantially vertical walls, said housing being provided with an opening in its lower end and with an opening adjacent the top of one of its verticahwalls, a radiator core disposed in said housing below said upper opening, a tank'mounteddn said housing .intermediate the upper and lower ends of said upper opening, the rear wall of said tank being of a greater dimension than the front wall thereof, said tank being of smaller cross-sectional area than the housing whereby air may flow from the core and over the housing and thence through said upper opening and the remainder of the air may upper opening.

Inv testimony whereof, I have hereuntov signed my name.

ARTHUR B. MODINE. 

